Van Deeb, nationally known motivational speaker, author, and success coach talks with Host Jeana Goosmann, CEO of Goosmann Law Firm, about leadership and why leaders need leaders. In this episode they discuss:
Goosmann Law Firm : 0:01
Do complex legal issues hold you back? Let's get energized and bring clarity to your top legal questions. This is Law Talk with the Flock by Goosmann Law Firm.
Jeana Goosmann: 0:31
Hello, I'm your host, Jeana Goosmann CEO, attorney, author, and woman business owner here to help you navigate your way through the law, your business and life. As a leader for today's episode, I have with me, my guest Van Deeb. Van, Welcome to the podcast.
Van Deeb: 0:47
Thank you Jeana!
Jeana Goosmann: 0:50
I am so excited to have Van with me here today. He is one of my favorite guests and leadership, motivational speakers and keynotes. Van is just a dynamo. He has more charisma than anyone else I have ever met. So thank you again.
Van Deeb: 1:08
Thank you very much. I'm so honored to be here and be on your podcast.
Jeana Goosmann: 1:13
We're going to talk today about leadership and really what leaders need to hear, to stay motivated and how leaders can set themselves up for success. And I think leadership besides your dog Baxter, is one of your favorite topics.
Van Deeb: 1:26
Leadership is my favorite topic. You're exactly right. Baxter's my favorite living I'm going to call him a human cause . He's a human to me, but leadership is my favorite topic because without that we have nothing.
Jeana Goosmann: 1:40
And then what was your first leadership role?
Van Deeb: 1:44
So when I got in real estate , I was very blessed 39 years ago. And then , uh , then I started building my company 29 years ago. I really was not in a leadership role. I was a real estate agent, worked for another firm. And then I opened my own company and I didn't have any background in leadership. My family members were all teachers. And so I didn't really have any business mentors on how to be a leader. So I had to organically figure it out. All of a sudden my company is just me out of a basement. Then I have 20 people. Then I have 80. Then I have 200, then I have 300, then I'm just approaching 400. So leadership was thrown in my lap. When I'm standing in front of all these people, they're expecting somebody to guide them, give them direction, get them fired up. So I had to learn all this on the job training. It's not like I was a manager or a leader in some other entity before that. So my first leadership role was learning how to do it on the job training.
Jeana Goosmann: 2:55
And what do you think, how do people that need to learn it on a job and just like you did, they're kind of thrown into it. What should they be doing?
Van Deeb: 3:05
So here's the thing that, of course, whenever you look back, you're going to do it again better. That's if you're truly analyzing yourself and if you're your own best critic, I think what I would have done more is I would have spent more time developing people that worked with me. Instead of, instead of concentrating on other areas, I would have given more time to people in my firm to help them become all they can be. I think I did a good job, but I know I could have been better as leaders we're responsible. Um , we're responsible not just to motivate, inspire, encourage, and empower people that were around, but we've got to show our passion and that's one of the things as leaders. And I know that, you know, Jeana, because when I'm at Goosmann Law, whenever I've come in for any reason at all, I see the leadership just you can tell the culture , the passion that I, that I feel when I walk into your doors and as leaders, we've got to be passionate about what we do, because if we're not, how is our people going to be passionate if we're not?
Jeana Goosmann: 4:19
Absolutely. And I always tell people, I got to create my own dream job, right? Like there was no CEO managing partner of a female owned law firm on the job board. Right? I had to make this up. And so, and every day that's what I'm doing. I'm making it up. And I just, I was like, what do you want it to be? And I think thinking about what do you want to be? And then if you're passionate about it and excited it is it's contagious. And I think that's why I love your energy Van.
Van Deeb: 4:47
Well, thank you. And I want to tell you something monkey, see monkey. Do we as leaders, our actions and what we do in our company, even what we do in our personal life, people that are looking to us for guidance, they're going to copy us. They're going to say, well, gosh, that's the owner of the company. That's my manager or whatever that leadership role is. We've got to make sure that we are good examples. And you know, one thing that I get really excited about, there's a real popular restaurant in Omaha. And I used to frequent it a lot when I'd go out to lunch a lot and sometimes I'd get there early and I'd see him out front sweeping the sidewalk. This is the owner of the restaurant is out there sweeping the sidewalk. That's my kind of leader is somebody that digs inside is not afraid to get dirty with the, with the rest of the people in the firm. They lead by example. And so, you know, we're charged with being more than we're supposed to be. We're charged with, you know, setting an example.
Jeana Goosmann: 6:07
I was just going to say right before this got started, we were talking about one of the lines that you said just recently, which is if it is to be it's up to me, comment on that a little bit for us Van.
Van Deeb: 6:20
Well, here's the thing is I really believe that we're all on a level playing field. I just do. I am. If you knew my background, my family, I was spoiled to death with love and attention. We had no money. I didn't know we didn't have any money. Because I was happy. I was spoiled to death, but um, everything that I've done in my life, I had to make the decision to do. I didn't have people breathing down my neck or people pushing me to be this and be that I had to make the decision. And I really believe that we're all on a level playing field. If we want something bad enough. If we have a goal or something that we want to accomplish, I really believe that we have the God-given ability and the talent inside of us to do so. Now we have to break out all the things that make us be successful. We have to be resourceful. We have to treat others like nobody else , nobody else treats other people. We have to be above average. If we want to live in above average life, we have to be an above average person. If it's meant to be it's up to me, I really believe that. And you know, I sign off on all my monthly newsletters that if not now, then when, and if not me than who's going to do it, if we're not going to take charge of that, you know, the guy I sold my company to, he started out answering telephones, but he had leadership qualities way before I promoted him from answering telephones to assistant manager, manager, general manager, he was kinder than he needed to be. He got to work early and he stayed late. He showed leadership qualities.
Jeana Goosmann: 8:12
That's so inspiring. And I couldn't agree more. And I think that , the whole, if it's going to be it's up to me and that just embodies the hustle that you have to have, right? And that never goes away. Like every day you get up and you got to hustle again and get out there and push forward. And it's like a day in, day out, year after year thing and leadership you can't just do it early in your career and then ride those coattails. Right? Van, it's a forever thing.
Van Deeb: 8:42
It's a forever thing. And I want to tell you something. A lot of people think that leaders just have titles and people with titles are the ones that are leaders. That's not true. Is John Quincy Adams once said, "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. You're a leader." If things that you do are making other people want to do better, you're a leader. If your receptionist is doing things that inspire other people at Goosmann law, that receptionist is the leader. We inspire others to be better leadership does that? I can't tell you how many people in my firm went out to start their own companies. Now, a lot of people in my industry would discourage that they would burn a bridge. That would be men. I encouraged them , go out, go out there in the world and start your own company. A lot of them came back, but if I didn't treat them like the leader that I think they could be, they wouldn't come back. And so it's our actions. You know, it's like when I tell somebody I love you. Well, those are words. I have to show you. Don't just give me words. Give me action leaders, give action.
Jeana Goosmann: 10:09
And leadership is a continuum and it development too . Isn't advanced. So you probably are much better leader today than you were years ago. And can you tell us a little bit, how has your leadership changed over the years?
Van Deeb: 10:22
Okay. So in the beginning I knew everything because I'm the, I'm the boss. I know everything. I'm the boss and I thought I'm supposed to be that way. Hey, you know what? Janet's got a good idea, but I'm the boss. So my idea is better. So how it's changed over time is that I learned that they're the boss, a good manager, a good leader, understands the qualities of the people that they are working with. And so one of my greatest turnarounds is being a leader and a manager is the day that I sat in a staff meeting and I looked across the room and I said to the person, you know what, that's a great idea. Forget about my plan of attack. I want to use yours. So a good leader recognizes they're not the smartest person in the room. And then I got older in being a leader. And I realized, I don't want to be the smartest person in the room. I want to learn from everybody else. You know? And so that's, to me what a good leader recognizes people and helps them , um, and encourages them to keep the dialogue going.
Jeana Goosmann: 11:41
Absolutely. And those are tough lessons, I think, as you grow, because a lot of times leaders are promoted for being a great individual contributor. And now all of a sudden they're in a leadership role and it's not supposed to all about them anymore. And it can be hard to grow and transcend into those different , areas of leadership.
Van Deeb: 12:02
Yes , yes. I totally agree with that. Jeana. And I want to tell you something, one of the things that we have to do as leaders, I may have this great vision of what I want to do with Deeb Realty or what I want to do with Van Deeb speaking. I may have this great vision, but if I don't share my vision with the people that are on my team, how can I expect them to help me get there? How can I expect them to help the company get to where they want to go? If you don't paint the picture and include them in the picture, tell this great story of where you see this company headed and they have to be the main characters that's leadership to me is if it's important to you, it's more important to me. And that's, that's also a way for retention too. Right ?
Jeana Goosmann: 12:54
Outstanding. And what other things do you think are essential characteristics for a great leader?
Van Deeb: 13:01
Well, I want to tell you something compassion and empathy. I think are incredibly important. I gave a keynote speech to a fortune 500 company. And one of the things they charged me to do is they said, please mold and customize your speech around retention. We're losing people all over the country. So it was a manager's conference that they flew me in for. And they had me come in three days before my, my keynote speech. So I got to mingle with all these managers and it really helped me make a great speech to them. But I can't tell you how many people, how many managers, when they walk around their office would look down on the floor when they'd walk by somebody where they acted like the other person wasn't walking past them . To me, a great leader is going to share a smile, say hello, ask them about their lives. We as leaders now more than ever, we have got to really be involved with people that are on our team, because I want to tell you something, as innovative, as creative as I am on building a company, it wasn't me that kept the lights on. It's the people in the firm that keep the lights on. You're just the front man, front person. So leaders are not afraid to change direction. And I had to learn these things and learn these things. And now that I'm older, I'm almost embarrassed because I could have done such a better job on being a leader with the constant growth. We have to constantly learn how to become better leaders. And you know, how I've learned is watching bad leaders or watching good leaders and taking notes from them. But you know what I mean?
Jeana Goosmann: 14:48
And that's a great point view . Why do leaders need other leaders in their lives?
Van Deeb: 14:56
Well, because we need people to learn from, even though we're in charge of motivating, inspiring people in our firm, we have to have people that we look up to too. And it's important that just because somebody's your boss, that doesn't mean that you can't come and give them leadership. Maybe they need it. What's wrong with , one of the employees or one of the managers or assistant managers walking up to the owner or the boss in the company or the supervisor and saying, how can I help you? What can I do for you? We need people in our lives, helping us become better at what we do, but we need, we need leaders. Mine happened to be spiritual. I gained a lot from spiritual leaders. Two of my favorite leaders are females, Mia Angelou and Mary Kay Ash. And I quote them way too much. But I love the way that they lead. All it takes is one thing for somebody to say that can change the course of your direction. One thing is all I can say. I want to share this with you. And I know you've heard me say it probably 20 times, Jeana. I hope I'm not wearing it out, but it's so important to me.
Jeana Goosmann: 16:14
Please do.
: 16:15
Mary Kay Ash. Thank you, Mary Kay, Ash, Mary Kay cosmetics. She said something that I heard back in the eighties changed me forever. Pretend everybody you meet has a sign around their neck. That says, make me feel important. If you called a meeting with all of your leadership team and that's all you said that would have been a powerful meeting is make everybody feel like they matter. That's what a good leader does.
Jeana Goosmann: 16:50
Van will you please share with our listeners where they can get more of your inspirational and motivational advice?
Van Deeb: 16:59
Thank you for asking. So I have my own podcasts , at vandeeb.com. There's a whole scroll of them that you can pick from, or you can go to Apple or Spotify and punch in Van Deeb, but I'll tell you if they want monthly motivation. My newsletters are free. And I only write about things that I believe in, and that's at vandeeb.com and they can sign up and they'll get monthly motivational newsletters. Um, I just want to be an asset, you know, to people before the good Lord takes me home. So
Jeana Goosmann: 17:32
Van thank you so much for sharing your insight. And I want to have all of our listeners have a fabulous day and stay and go make it worth it. Thank you.
Goosmann Law Firm : 17:42
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